Primarily a collection of news links about all 10 Horizon League teams on a daily basis, culled from online newspapers, school athletic websites, the conference website, and school newspapers, plus some other content from time to time.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Former Oakland University sharpshooter Max Hooper was taken by the Westchester Knicks with pick No. 16 in the first round. A transfer from Harvard and St. John’s, Hooper averaged 10.7 points per game with the Grizzlies last year, making 202 of his 479 career 3-point attempts, and 6-for-11 from 2-point range (he didn’t attempt a single 2-pointer as a senior).

9. Alec Peters,Valparaiso: The senior could have left for the NBA or played for any other program as a grad transfer, but he’s back at Valpo. At 6-foot-9, Peters splashes in jumpers from all over the floor as he put up 18.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while shooting 44 percent from three-point range.

Oregon begins the season on Nov. 11 against Army. Then after that, a meeting with arguably the best mid-major, Valparaiso, is sandwiched in between a pair of games with two potentially dangerous high-major teams in Baylor and Georgetown. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Pac-12 favorite, minus its star forward, could be slow out of the gates in 2016-17.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

If you’re reading this post, chances are you already know about Alec Peters, Justin Robinson, E.C. Matthews, and a number of Other 26 players who have cemented themselves among the nation’s best. Look past those names, though, and you will find another tier of players on the fast-track to (relative) stardom. Whether because of increased minutes, increased visibility or both, here is a list of guys outside the power conferences poised to break out in 2016-17.
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Jalen Hayes, F – Jr., Oakland – 2015-16: 13.1 PPG, 8.6 RPG: Although Kay Felder (9.3 APG) is no longer around to distribute the basketball, he’s also no longer around to put up shots—something he (deservedly) did 17.4 times per game 2015-16. That is where Hayes comes in. The 6’7″ junior was second on the team in scoring, led the Horizon League in rebounding, and logged seven double-doubles in the team’s final 10 conference games last season. With former Oklahoma State point guard Stevie Clark taking over for Felder, opponents won’t be able to merely divert extra defensive attention to Hayes, even as his offensive workload increases. If it weren’t for Alec Peters, Hayes would be a legitimate contender for conference Player of the Year.

Greg Kampe's Golden Grizzlies should be Valparaiso's most serious challenger in the Horizon League, but with this slate they'll have to win Motor City Madness to make the NCAAs. That's unless they make their way through a Great Alaska Shootout field that features some quality mid-majors, beat Georgia at home, and win at Michigan State.

Last March, Valparaiso made it all the way to the NIT championship game after being one of the first four teams left out of the NCAA field. This season, which happens to be Matt Lotich's first in charge after Bryce Drew's departure for Vanderbilt, brings high hopes, especially with the return of forward Alec Peters for his senior season. And that's reflected in a schedule that features road trips to two likely Top 5 teams, Kentucky and Oregon, and a winnable exempt tournament in the MGM Grand Main Event. Plus, Rhode Island, an A 10 contender the Crusaders defeated in Kingston last November (albeit without the injured E.C. Matthews) visits the ARC.

While the rest of the home slate is unimpressive, there should be enough here to keep Valpo in the hunt, should another Horizon League Tournament failure occur in March.

The first Chicago team on the list is Northwestern at No. 86. (If you want to extend into nearby Indiana, Valparaiso is No. 51).
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Norlander has UIC all the way up at No. 152 from No. 285 last year, the biggest jump of any team. That puts the Flames fourth in the Horizon League, exactly where the conference’s preseason poll had them earlier this month.
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Horizon League

Head coach Steve McClain is excited about his team’s non-conference schedule. Though not particularly challenging by national standards, the Flames play local rivals DePaul, Chicago State, Northern Illinois, and Eastern Illinois.
McClain says Illinois teams are doing a great job recruiting players. A lot of competition is developing in the state and it is great to play the teams in the non-conference.

It's extremely rare that you'd have a team be on a Cinderella list after it lost its really good coach to a major-conference program. Valpo qualifies, though, because it's even more rare that you'd have a player on a mid-major team be one of the 100 best players in the country who

A) Has a shot to go pro, but instead decides to return to college

B) Decides to do that even after losing the coach that recruited him and elevated his game to such a level that he could weigh his options to go pro before expiring his eligibility and

C) Even still after losing his coach and with the option to play a graduate year at just about any school in the country -- because just about any school would take him -- still stays with the program.

That's what Alec Peters has done. It's admirable, really. And he's one of the 40 best players in college hoops this season, no question. He alone validates Valpo on this list, but also take into account how good this team was on defense a season ago. They lose some of that (Vashil Fernandez, a superb shot-blocker, is gone), but enough remains on the roster to warrant including the Crusaders.

Peters might play for a small school, but after he bypassed a chance at chasing the NBA, he could've put his name on the transfer market. If that had happened, every single program in the country would've made room for him. Instead, amazingly, he decided to stay at Valpo for his final season -- even after Bryce Drew left the Crusaders to coach Vanderbilt. Peters will probably average 20 points and nine boards. -- MN

Doesn’t it seem like Valpo is always in the Cinderella conversation? The Crusaders were a 30-win team last year and return 6’9 senior forward Alec Peters, who was the last player to remove his name from the NBA draft. Peters averaged 18.4 points with 8.5 rebounds per game and should be a dominant force along with three of the team’s top four scorers from last year. They have plenty of talent to ensure they get back to the tournament.

Peters, a lethal perimeter shooter who posted one of the nation’s 20 best offensive ratings last season, considered turning pro this summer but he elected to withdraw from the NBA draft and then decided against transferring to a more high-profile program. In July he shined at the Nike Basketball Academy and, according to our Luke Winn, left the event with four pages of handwritten notes. You won’t see the 6' 9" forward on national television every week, but hopefully he leads the Crusaders to the NCAA tournament in his final season in college.

Peters, Valparaiso headline Horizon: Since Alec Peters decided to withdraw from the NBA Draft, then to return to Valparaiso, the senior forward has been accumulating accolades.

So it should come as no surprise that Peters was announced Thursday as the Horizon League's preseason player of the year.

Almost equally unsurprising, Valparaiso was tabbed as the top team in the preseason poll, receiving 35 of 39 first-place votes. Matt Lottich's first season as coach will begin with the Crusaders, who won four regular-season titles in Bryce Drew's five seasons, in the familiar position as favorites.

Senior swingman Shane Hammink also claimed the final spot on the preseason all-league second team.

Peters is the Crusaders' first preseason player of the year since Lubos Barton was the Mid-Continent Conference's in 2001-02.

Lew Wallace graduate Charles Cooper, a Green Bay senior, grabbed the last spot on the preseason first team.

This season, Beilein is hoping to correct some of those defensive problems.

New assistant Billy Donlon, who joined the Michigan staff this offseason after a six-year run as head coach at Wright State, is the man Beilein is turning to for defensive expertise. The Wolverines barely made the NCAA Tournament last season but return plenty of experience – and they could certainly take a big step forward in 2016-17 if Donlon can help them become a stingier group.

“I am giving him a lot of responsibility,” Beilein said at media day Monday. “My eye, and the detail that we do in offense, I think he’s got a similar eye for defense, and we’re trying to combine that without confusing everybody.”
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“You can’t really move the offensive needle,” Donlon said. “I think the players are wanting to also move the defensive needle some, and I think they recognize if we do that, what could happen.”
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One of the trademarks of Michigan’s defense has been a lack of fouling. Many coaches would be happy with that, but it’s fair to wonder if the Wolverines have been operating at too much of an extreme. Michigan averaged 15.5 fouls a game last season. Donlon’s Wright State team averaged 22.

Could Michigan benefit from a little more aggressiveness on defense, even if it leads to more fouls?

“You look at some of our guys’ stats, some guys didn’t average two fouls a game, so that’s a little bit too cautious,” Beilein said. “Somehow we’ve got to take Bill’s defense where they fouled more, and still stay out of the one-and-one and still keep our best players on the floor.”
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He had to shake up his staff a bit this offseason because Bacari Alexander was hired to lead the Detroit Titans and Wisconsin-Milwaukee hired LaVall Jordan.

In Donlon, Beilein hopes he’s found someone who can help the Wolverines in an area where they’ve been lacking.

“He is a head coach that is now as the assistant coach,” Beilein said. “He’s got a lot of the head coach qualities already, where he’s strong with his command. … I can tell by our kids’ eyes, they are learning from him, they love listening to him.”

G Stevie Clark, Oakland: Best known for his arrest after police said he was urinating out of a moving car, Clark attended two junior colleges and has now resurfaced at Oakland with two years of eligibility remaining.

THIRD TEAM ALL-AMERICA
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Alec Peters, Valparaiso: Peters is the best player at the mid-major level in the country, a kid that graduated from school in three years and had the chance to leave for literally any other program in the country. He didn’t. He opted to stay at Valpo, where he’ll be the centerpiece of new head coach Matt Lottich’s offense. It’s not crazy to think he could average 23 points.

A program that made the NCAAs two times in the past four years. Now the expectations -- from outside -- will dip because Bryce Drew left to take the Vandy job. Who's the new coach? A man named Matt Lottich. He should have an inaugural year eased in thanks to an unexpected decision by Alec Peters, who could have gone pro, but didn't. He could have had his pick of basically any program in America to transfer to in his senior season -- without having to sit a year -- but didn't. He didn't do that even after his coach switched jobs. Valpo will have a chance to get back to the tourney because of it. Peters will be one of the 25 or so best players in America, and so Valpo is worthy of inclusion here.

17. Rhode Island at Valpo, Nov. 29: Credit Dan Hurley for scheduling this game. Valpo will again be on the short list of the best mid-major teams in college hoops this season. Alec Peters bypassed going pro and even still stayed true to the school after Bryce Drew took the Vandy job. A win here would be a huge boost to URI's dossier down the road, while a Valpo loss might well take it out of at-large consideration.